Opening Statement to the Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development

Chapter 4 - Canada’s Biodiversity Clock is Ticking

Brian Emmett, Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to be here today. With me is Wayne Cluskey, the Principal in charge of the preparation of our chapter on biodiversity, which was tabled in the House of Commons in May of this year.

In my May 1998 report, I noted that Canada is a party to over 230 international environmental agreements. In the last 18 months, I have reported on Canada’s participation in four of these, including the Basel Convention, the Montreal Protocol and the United Nations Conventions on both Climate Change and Biological Diversity. What I have found has been quite disturbing.

Parliament and Canadians should know whether we are meeting our national and international commitments and obligations. Canada’s international reputation is at stake. The fact is, the federal government does not know the extent to which it is meeting these commitments.

Last Thursday I spoke to you about the importance of climate change and the problems associated with Canada’s efforts in this area. In my view, biodiversity is of equal importance. The protection of biodiversity is important to Canadians economically, environmentally and morally.

Biodiversity is the living mosaic of animals, plants and micro-organisms from the simplest forms to wild animals and birds. It is crucial to the survival of the planet and our own health.

The scientific capacity needed to understand the impact of our biodiversity initiatives must be enhanced. The amount of work left to do is staggering. For example, only about half the species thought to exist in Canada have been named, and only one percent having been studied. Six years after Canada signed the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, there still is little information on how well Canada is doing in protecting its plants, animals, birds and habitats.

I am concerned that biodiversity does not receive adequate attention. In terms of Canada’s efforts, biodiversity is the poor cousin to climate change. The immediate challenge for Canada is to manage biodiversity in a concerted and integrated manner and to report the results of these efforts so that we can rigorously evaluate achievements (or the lack thereof).

Our audit findings confirmed that little progress had been made. So little, in fact, that we scaled back the scope of our audit.

Canada’s key response to the Convention on Biological Diversity has been the development of the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy. This is an important starting point. However, as my May chapter pointed out, steps to implement the Strategy have been slow and key deadlines have been missed. The bottom line is, we do not know if Canada’s biodiversity is being adequately protected.

I believe the government must produce a federal implementation plan to ensure that biodiversity is fully integrated into all federal activities. This plan should include timeframes, resources to be allocated, performance indicators and expected results.

At the same time, the federal government can not go it alone. It needs to work closely with the provinces, who share jurisdiction for most environmental matters. Therefore, dialogue at the federal/provincial ministerial level must be enhanced to ensure that national efforts are concerted and integrated.

Reporting at all levels of government needs to be improved to better reflect the extent to which we are achieving our national goals and meeting our international commitments.

Canadians are concerned over the future of the environment, and they need concrete assurance that positive steps are being taken to protect it. I intend to revisit this important issue in the foreseeable future. I hope, Mr. Chairman, that we will have something to audit.

Thank you.